How the Spurs and Heat reached the Finals

By Edmund Hubbard, San Antonio Express-News

Published 8:16 pm, Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Spurs

SAN ANTONIO —
Regular season: 62-20 (league best), first in Southwest, first in Western Conference

West first round: It is odd that the Spurs' first-round matchup was their toughest matchup in the playoffs so far. Vince Carter's miraculous shot with 1.7 seconds left to win Game 3 put the Mavericks up 2-1. Then the Los Tres Grandes of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili took over. Together they averaged 54.9 points per game during the series to help win the next three out of four. Parker's 32-point performance in Game 7 capped the series.

West semifinals: Coach Greg Popovich summed it up when he said, “In a way, we were more ready to play against Portland than we were against Dallas.” His team shut down the Trail Blazers' stars and finished off the series in five games. LaMarcus Aldridge averaged 29.8 points per game in the first round against Houston and Damian Lillard averaged 25.5 points, but the Spurs' defense dropped Aldridge's average down to 21.8 points and Lillard's to only 19.8.

West finals: Without Serge Ibaka protecting the rim, the Spurs hammered the Thunder with 66 points in the paint in Game 1. After the Spurs dominated down low again in Game 2, Ibaka returned. He totaled seven blocks and 15 rebounds to help the Thunder take the next two games in Oklahoma City. The ghosts of the 2012 conference finals collapse surrounded the Spurs, but they responded the next two games. Duncan outscored the Thunder 7-6 by himself in overtime on the road in Game 6 to send the Spurs to their second straight NBA Finals and a shot at revenge vs. Miami.

Heat

Regular season: 54-28, first in Southeast, second in Eastern Conference

East first round: The story surrounding the Heat's first-round matchup against the Charlotte Bobcats was LeBron James competing against Michael Jordan's “team.” Even if Jordan was wearing a Bobcats jersey, Charlotte still would have had no chance of beating the defending champs. James averaged 30 points in the series and helped the Heat sweep the Bobcats by an average of nine points per game.

East semifinals: With the addition of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the Brooklyn Nets had the look of a possible championship contender when the season started. The Heat put to rest any hopes with a 4-1 series win. Brooklyn showed some resiliency at home in Game 3 when six different Nets players scored in double digits to spark a 14-point win over Miami. But the small forward and power forward combination of James and Chris Bosh proved a better duo than Pierce and Garnett. James and Bosh averaged a combined 44.6 points compared to Pierce and Garnett's 18.8.

East finals: The Pacers started off with a Game 1 win in Indianapolis. But as the Heat showed in the 2012 and 2013 NBA Finals, they can rebound after losing Game 1 of a series, and went on to take this one 4-2. Even though the Pacers limited James to only seven points in Game 5, the Pacers needed a 21-point fourth-quarter performance from Paul George to capture its only other victory of the series. Despite the Game 5 hiccup, James averaged 22 points in the series and sent the Heat to their fourth straight Finals.